Who dies: share of all deaths, by age and sex

Western Africa

1972

Life expectancy: 41.5

Life expectancy at birth, 1950–2100 · click to pick a year

Year

-5 -1 1972 +1 +5

Country

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Life expectancy at birth in Western Africa was 41.5 years in 1972: 43.2 for women and 39.9 for men, a gap of 3.2 years. 2,616,046 people died; 11.7% of them were 65 or older and 55.1% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1972

Life expectancy at birth

41.5

Women

43.2

Men

39.9

Life expectancy at 65

11.0

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

141.0

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

273.7

Deaths

2,616,046

Deaths per 1,000 people

23.2

Men dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

448

Women dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

385

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1972's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1972

Deaths per 1,000 people per year in each age group. Logarithmic scale: each gridline is ten times the one below. Hover for exact values.

WomenMen

Show the life table data

Age	Death rate, women (‰)	Death rate, men (‰)	Years left, women	Years left, men
0	143.43	167.83	43.2	40.0
1-4	41.27	44.43	48.6	46.0
5-9	8.95	9.33	52.9	50.4
10-14	4.90	4.79	50.2	47.7
15-19	5.64	5.94	46.4	43.8
20-24	6.74	8.59	42.7	40.1
25-29	7.75	8.96	39.1	36.7
30-34	8.69	9.50	35.5	33.3
35-39	9.79	10.74	32.0	29.8
40-44	10.84	12.96	28.4	26.3
45-49	11.92	15.63	24.9	22.9
50-54	15.14	20.02	21.3	19.6
55-59	20.59	26.38	17.7	16.3
60-64	31.16	37.63	14.4	13.3
65-69	47.76	54.92	11.4	10.5
70-74	75.08	84.70	8.8	8.1
75-79	114.20	128.65	6.6	6.1
80-84	172.19	193.97	4.9	4.5
85-89	245.28	283.96	3.7	3.3
90-94	347.75	404.84	2.8	2.4
95-99	459.52	523.32	2.1	1.9
100+	584.59	628.89	1.7	1.6

Mortality in Western Africa by year

Mortality in Western Africa, 1972

Year

Country